Forest Green Rovers’ grounds team has found an unexpected use for battery-powered blowers: lifting and separating frost sheets so they can be rolled out in half the time.
Head groundsman Nick Johnstone says the Kress blowers have halved the time it takes to deploy the covers at the stadium and the training ground. “It means we can react much quicker when we’ve only got a short window to get the pitches protected,” he said.
The benefit became clear during a busy fixture list, when the club faced a Tuesday evening match followed by another game a few days later, with overnight temperatures forecast to fall to minus six degrees. “We knew we needed to get the pitches covered straight after the game,” Johnstone said. “That was probably the first time we realised just how much time the equipment was saving us.”
One groundsman went ahead with a blower to lift and separate the sheets, while the rest of the team rolled them out behind. “It just made the whole process so much quicker and meant we could get home at a reasonable hour before coming back in early the next morning,” he said.
Faster deployment also helps the pitch. “When temperatures are below zero, you want to leave the covers on for as long as you possibly can,” Johnstone said. “Knowing we can put them on and take them off so quickly gives us real peace of mind because it means we can protect the pitches for longer from those harsh conditions.”
The club uses both the Kress backpack blower and the handheld blower, which Johnstone says perform equally well and are used all year round, including for jobs they weren’t designed for. They are part of a wider range of Kress battery-powered equipment, including mowers, strimmers and hedge trimmers, used across the stadium and Eco Park training facilities.
Johnstone said the equipment is easy to use and doesn’t compromise on power, and that it has saved time on several tasks compared with battery equipment the team used before. He also praised the battery performance and charging speed, saying the CyberSystem charging unit keeps batteries charged and ready, so staff working across the site don’t have to keep returning for them.
“If there are others out there wondering what equipment to go for, I’d absolutely recommend Kress,” he said. “Some of the equipment we’ve used, not just compared to other battery equipment but also combustion equipment, is the best I’ve ever used.”
More information is at kress.com/en-gb.